Originally published September 2024 | Updated August 2025
Editor’s Note (August 2025): As I’m updating this post during the last week of August, I’m wrestling with that familiar end-of-summer disappointment. You know the feeling—those ambitious July projects that are still sitting in your “someday” folder? That’s me right now. But here’s the thing: Labor Day isn’t just marking summer’s end; it’s offering a fresh start. And re-reading this post reminded me why I needed optimism more than discipline to tackle those unfinished dreams. The principle still holds true, maybe even more so when facing September’s clean slate.
All my life, I’ve been trying to become that “wake-up early” person for different reasons at different stages of life.
It started with my father, a military man who believed discipline was the key to everything.
Every day, including weekends, he’d have my siblings and me up at 6:00 a.m. sharp. High school mornings were a daily battleground, where we fought tooth and nail against this ritual.
That same struggle followed me into adulthood.
But there was a difference as I grew older—my perspective on waking up early changed. As a teen, I’d argue that there was no point in waking early if I could just stay up late and get the same work done.
My father wasn’t exactly impressed with my logic. And yet, over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the benefits of those early mornings.
With time (and age), waking up at 5:00 a.m. slowly became easier. I found that starting my day with a workout and knocking out one important task before the busy workday began gave me the calm I craved.
Accomplishing those morning goals without distractions brought feelings of productivity, achievement, and success. It became my recipe for happiness.
So naturally, I assumed discipline was the secret ingredient.
I worked hard to strengthen my “discipline muscles” with small daily habits: no checking my phone until lunchtime, weekend runs (followed by coffee as a reward), and avoiding the temptation of buying chips at the grocery store. Yet despite these efforts, discipline wasn’t always enough.
Then, I had a light-bulb moment.
It happened when I decided to do something I’d never done before—hire a tech person from overseas. Since it was my first time, the unknowns quickly turned into endless negative questions:
- What if I pick the wrong person?
- What if they don’t do the work?
- How can I ensure the quality is up to my standards?
These “what-ifs” piled up and morphed into maybes:
- Maybe we’ll struggle to communicate.
- Maybe it’d be safer to hire locally.
- Maybe I’ll waste time and money and have to start all over.
With so much doubt swirling in my mind, discipline wasn’t going to save me from this situation. If I was convinced things would go wrong, there was no point in starting the project at all.
That’s when I realized: discipline isn’t the first step—optimism is.
I could push myself to be as disciplined as I wanted, but without hope or an optimistic outlook, there was no reason to even try.
Discipline needs something to follow. Believing that things will work out—especially when venturing into the unknown—is the key to making the first move.
Editor’s Note (August 2025): This hits differently as I look at my list of summer projects that didn’t happen. I keep telling myself I need more discipline to finish them, but maybe what I really need is to believe they’re still worth doing. September feels like permission to start fresh, which is exactly the optimistic reset I need.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have moments of doubt about this project. But now, I remind myself that I might find THE person who I could work with long-term, and maybe I won’t have to go through this uncomfortable hiring process again.
And honestly, hiring someone overseas is probably still easier than waking up at 5:00 a.m.!
What do you think? Have you found that optimism matters more than discipline in starting new projects? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Life Outside of Design Studio 